NCL customer service, not good!

[BirdTravels]

Cant's speak directly about the Jade, but we were just on the Encore and there was a service list on the door of the medical center (example shown below)

[jennjess]

16 hours ago, 4 cruisers said:

So many facets to this whole situation.  I am thinking about Covid and the ER in Athens.  That alone is daunting.  Language barrier is another tough one!  Having a skateboarding kid, we have had two broken arms.  One was way more severe than the other.  Pain levels were each different.  Im sure the Mom felt she was making the best decision to get her son checked out by the doctor on the ship.

 

I guess, all in all, too much was expected by the poster from NCL.  It just stirred up a lot of fellow cruisers' less than stellar communications we have experienced with NCL.  

 

 

 

Yes, this is a good summary of the situation.  The first hospital we visited appeared more dangerous than no hospital at all.  Really "third world".  What we needed was a quick diagnosis and the ship could provide that for us and send us on.  What they didn't provide was a working method to be able to contact them once we were onshore. 

[jennjess]

Anyway a quick update on the situation and a question.

Since we left the ship will they send an invoice to me at some point?  We are due a number of reductions on the paid money.  Excursions, gratuities, etc...

My son has seen his doctor here and the hospital and the caste is removed, the metal staples will be removed today and later he has an appointment with the physio because we need to get the wrist moving asap.

We have new flights booked and are going to continue our travels tomorrow.

Fingers crossed all goes to plan.

[jennjess]

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Cant's speak directly about the Jade, but we were just on the Encore and there was a service list on the door of the medical center (example shown below)

No we didn't see that anywhere on the Jade.  But they are amazingly well equipped to provide first line care.

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, jennjess said:

Anyway a quick update on the situation and a question.

Since we left the ship will they send an invoice to me at some point?  We are due a number of reductions on the paid money.  Excursions, gratuities, etc...

My son has seen his doctor here and the hospital and the caste is removed, the metal staples will be removed today and later he has an appointment with the physio because we need to get the wrist moving asap.

We have new flights booked and are going to continue our travels tomorrow.

Fingers crossed all goes to plan.

I hope all goes well for you and especially your son. 🤞

[4 cruisers]

On 5/22/2022 at 1:45 PM, The Shrike said:

Offensive?  Wanting a company to cater to you because of something that occurred completely outside of their sphere of influence is offensive.
You took that quote out of context.  It is offensive that they judged this woman for NOT keeping her child in the hospital in Athens but waiting to have the ships' doctor look at him the next morning. Covid alone would keep me out of that hospital waiting room....I know what the medical language barrier can be...Greek is very different!  I agree that asking more of NCL at that point was a bit much.  Especially since they had private insurance.  All I can say is if you cruise, you need the top insurance you can get!

 

 

[LGW59]

On 5/22/2022 at 11:16 AM, 4 cruisers said:

cute.

maybe cute, but it's true

[LGW59]

On 5/22/2022 at 3:11 PM, 4 cruisers said:

You know, until you have experienced this poster's experience, you should probably just stop.  Have you ever experienced finding medical care for a child in Greece?  

NCL is NOT good at communication.  That is a fact.  You can argue that, but many of us have experienced it first hand.  There are other cruise lines that are WAY more service oriented.  That is FACT.  You will say we should cruise elsewhere...we most likely will.  Your "Snarky" viewpoint is offensive.

NCL had zero to do with injury, it happened even before the cruise began.  My sense is with the long line, the OP did not want to miss the cruise so hurried back to be sure they did not.  Lesson learned, one would hope.  NCL owes nothing here and did nothing here.

[LGW59]

On 5/22/2022 at 9:43 PM, RD64 said:

Agreed - sorry but no sympathy at all..

I feel bad for the kid that was injured, but the parent mucked this all up, to get on the ship IMO, perhaps thinking it wasn't serious, but...

[jennjess]

5 hours ago, LGW59 said:

I feel bad for the kid that was injured, but the parent mucked this all up, to get on the ship IMO, perhaps thinking it wasn't serious, but...

How did we muck this up?  He needed a diagnosis which we boarded the ship to get.  It might just have been a sprain and we could have continued with the cruise.  It was not sadly and we had to leave the ship for proper treatment.  Not sure why anyone thinks it was a mistake to make use of the ship's medical service for a diagnosis as we paid for that service and had every right to get onboard.

 

Still haven't received a reply from the emails I sent to guest relations almost a month ago now or a refund for the excursions etc. I pre-paid.

[jennjess]

On 5/25/2022 at 2:06 PM, ontheweb said:

I hope all goes well for you and especially your son. 🤞

He is doing remarkably well, thank you.  The second part of our travels went to plan and it is annoying to me that we could have rejoined the NCL cruise at some point too but had no way to communicate with them to organise that.

[4 cruisers]

8 hours ago, jennjess said:

How did we muck this up?  He needed a diagnosis which we boarded the ship to get.  It might just have been a sprain and we could have continued with the cruise.  It was not sadly and we had to leave the ship for proper treatment.  Not sure why anyone thinks it was a mistake to make use of the ship's medical service for a diagnosis as we paid for that service and had every right to get onboard.

 

Still haven't received a reply from the emails I sent to guest relations almost a month ago now or a refund for the excursions etc. I pre-paid.

This is where I don't see NCL's responsibility.  Your insurance needs to reimburse your shore excursions, not NCL...I believe....

 

[jennjess]

1 hour ago, 4 cruisers said:

This is where I don't see NCL's responsibility.  Your insurance needs to reimburse your shore excursions, not NCL...I believe....

 

No the excursions were booked through NCL they should refund me for those and the pre-paid gratuities, drinks package etc..

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, 4 cruisers said:

This is where I don't see NCL's responsibility.  Your insurance needs to reimburse your shore excursions, not NCL...I believe....

 

Not if the shore excursions were NCL excursions.

[ontheweb]

14 hours ago, jennjess said:

He is doing remarkably well, thank you.  The second part of our travels went to plan and it is annoying to me that we could have rejoined the NCL cruise at some point too but had no way to communicate with them to organise that.

Yes, one of the great advantages of youth is being able to recover.

 

My parents both died as a result of falls, one at 101 1/2 and the other at not quite 99. (Dad actually unexpectedly survived breaking his hip at almost 99.) Moral of the story---save your falls and broken bones for your years as a youth.

 

BTW, did you try to contact the port agent? If so, did he or she make any attempt to get you back aboard?

[jennjess]

27 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Yes, one of the great advantages of youth is being able to recover.

 

My parents both died as a result of falls, one at 101 1/2 and the other at not quite 99. (Dad actually unexpectedly survived breaking his hip at almost 99.) Moral of the story---save your falls and broken bones for your years as a youth.

 

BTW, did you try to contact the port agent? If so, did he or she make any attempt to get you back aboard?

I called the port agent and he made it very clear that his only obligation was to get us to a hospital and there it ended.  He very quickly disappeared after we had confirmation from our health insurance that the hospital costs would be met.  The hospital he took us to still wanted the money up front though and so we went to a different hospital suggested by the health insurance alarm line.  They only ever asked us to pay one bill which was a covid test for me so I could remain with him in his room.

 

We did fly to Mykonos on the day the ship should have called but our luck being as it was, the ship could not dock that day due to the strong winds.  So another wasted journey and waste of funds. If I could have contacted the ship maybe that could have been avoided.

 

[SeaShark]

58 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Yes, one of the great advantages of youth is being able to recover.

 

My parents both died as a result of falls, one at 101 1/2 and the other at not quite 99. (Dad actually unexpectedly survived breaking his hip at almost 99.) Moral of the story---save your falls and broken bones for your years as a youth.

 

BTW, did you try to contact the port agent? If so, did he or she make any attempt to get you back aboard?

 

4 minutes ago, jennjess said:

I called the port agent and he made it very clear that his only obligation was to get us to a hospital and there it ended.  He very quickly disappeared after we had confirmation from our health insurance that the hospital costs would be met.  The hospital he took us to still wanted the money up front though and so we went to a different hospital suggested by the health insurance alarm line.  They only ever asked us to pay one bill which was a covid test for me so I could remain with him in his room.

 

We did fly to Mykonos on the day the ship should have called but our luck being as it was, the ship could not dock that day due to the strong winds.  So another wasted journey and waste of funds. If I could have contacted the ship maybe that could have been avoided.

 

 

But was the ship expecting a possible return, or did you leave them with the impression that you would not be returning when you debarked? This is why you've been asked about whether you left your luggage in your stateroom (indicating an intention to return) or if you took it with you when you debarked (indicating no intention to return). Despite it being asked multiple times, we haven't yet seen an answer to this question. While you were onboard, did you ask for information or a point of contact for coordinating your return after the medical care?

[jennjess]

1 minute ago, SeaShark said:

 

 

But was the ship expecting a possible return, or did you leave them with the impression that you would not be returning when you debarked? This is why you've been asked about whether you left your luggage in your stateroom (indicating an intention to return) or if you took it with you when you debarked (indicating no intention to return). Despite it being asked multiple times, we haven't yet seen an answer to this question. While you were onboard, did you ask for information or a point of contact for coordinating your return after the medical care?

The luggage was taken off the ship with us.  It all happened very quickly, as I said I never even had a chance to see our travel companion to tell her what was happening.  Nobody asked us if we wanted to return and to be honest I was more concerned about what was going to happen next rather than reboarding at that point.  I was given a piece of paper with contact details of the port agent, guest relations email (no telephone number) and still nobody has replied to any email I sent, and a number to call in the USA which never was available and they didn't ever reply to my voice mail.

[cassie55]

16 hours ago, jennjess said:

How did we muck this up?  He needed a diagnosis which we boarded the ship to get.  It might just have been a sprain and we could have continued with the cruise.  It was not sadly and we had to leave the ship for proper treatment.  Not sure why anyone thinks it was a mistake to make use of the ship's medical service for a diagnosis as we paid for that service and had every right to get onboard.

 

Still haven't received a reply from the emails I sent to guest relations almost a month ago now or a refund for the excursions etc. I pre-paid.

I can't understand going onboard to get a diagnosis rather than a proper medical facility.  The facilities on a ship are good but nothing like as good as a hospital or minor injuries unit.  

[SeaShark]

42 minutes ago, jennjess said:

The luggage was taken off the ship with us.  It all happened very quickly, as I said I never even had a chance to see our travel companion to tell her what was happening.  Nobody asked us if we wanted to return and to be honest I was more concerned about what was going to happen next rather than reboarding at that point.  I was given a piece of paper with contact details of the port agent, guest relations email (no telephone number) and still nobody has replied to any email I sent, and a number to call in the USA which never was available and they didn't ever reply to my voice mail.

 

So much information/context still missing. Normally, you hand you luggage to the porter prior to embarkation. That luggage isn't delivered to your stateroom until well after you board. How exactly did you have your luggage to debark? Did you tell anyone at the ship that you would be returning or might even want to return? If you took all of your luggage and belongings with you, what impression are you leaving with the ship? Personally, I would think that you weren't returning at all.

 

They gave you medical attention, referred you to local medical care, had the port agent escort you, gave you contact information, etc. What else where they supposed to do for your issue that didn't even occur while on the cruise?

[SeaShark]

4 minutes ago, cassie55 said:

I can't understand going onboard to get a diagnosis rather than a proper medical facility.  The facilities on a ship are good but nothing like as good as a hospital or minor injuries unit.  

 

Earlier in the thread we learned that they did go to a shoreside medical facility before the cruise, but that there was a long line and they didn't/couldn't/wouldn't wait, so they decided to hold off on the medical care until they boarded the ship.

[jennjess]

25 minutes ago, cassie55 said:

I can't understand going onboard to get a diagnosis rather than a proper medical facility.  The facilities on a ship are good but nothing like as good as a hospital or minor injuries unit.  

They were sufficient for our immediate needs in that they had an x-ray machine to make a diagnosis on the injury.  We also could get that done quickly and easily.

We could have stayed in the first public hospital the previous night, which would probably have taken all night, since it was very busy with people who seemed much more in need of urgent help than we did at that point.  It was my son's decision not to stay there btw.  He wasn't in severe pain and I thought it might just have been a sprain and we would see how it was next day.

[PATRLR]

22 hours ago, LGW59 said:

I feel bad for the kid that was injured, but the parent mucked this all up, to get on the ship IMO, perhaps thinking it wasn't serious, but...

@LGW59How many fractured wrists have you seen and dealt with?  I suspect not many or maybe none.  

I've seen and managed a lot.  You might be very surprised at how little pain is associated with many of them.  Sometimes people need to be pushed very hard to have it seen and x-rayed and then they are shocked to learn it's actually fractured.  

I fully understand the lack of urgency on the part of the OP.  I've seen it first hand dozens of times.

[jennjess]

32 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

So much information/context still missing. Normally, you hand you luggage to the porter prior to embarkation. That luggage isn't delivered to your stateroom until well after you board. How exactly did you have your luggage to debark? Did you tell anyone at the ship that you would be returning or might even want to return? If you took all of your luggage and belongings with you, what impression are you leaving with the ship? Personally, I would think that you weren't returning at all.

 

They gave you medical attention, referred you to local medical care, had the port agent escort you, gave you contact information, etc. What else where they supposed to do for your issue that didn't even occur while on the cruise?

The luggage was located by the staff and taken off the ship.  I had earlier just been briefly in the cabin to drop hand luggage and went to eat lunch onboard whilst waiting for the medical centre to open later in the afternoon at 4PM if I recall correctly.

 

They could have given me more useful contact info and followed up on my emails and calls.  They didn't reply to my emails or answer my calls.  They maybe assumed the port agent would take care of everything from that point on but he was adamant that it was not his responsibilty.

[LGW59]

4 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

@LGW59How many fractured wrists have you seen and dealt with?  I suspect not many or maybe none.  

I've seen and managed a lot.  You might be very surprised at how little pain is associated with many of them.  Sometimes people need to be pushed very hard to have it seen and x-rayed and then they are shocked to learn it's actually fractured.  

I fully understand the lack of urgency on the part of the OP.  I've seen it first hand dozens of times.

At 63 yo and having 3 children and being one of five brothers, I’ve seen quite a bit thank you.  Like my mother that raised us I did likewise with my own children, always erred on the side of caution regarding health concerns. YM obviously is different.